The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) is dedicated to the eradication of autoimmune diseases and the alleviation of the suffering and socioeconomic impact of autoimmune diseases through education, public awareness, research, and

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• The American Autoimmune Related Diseases
  Association (AARDA) is dedicated to the
  eradication of autoimmune diseases and the
  alleviation of the suffering and socioeconomic
  impact of autoimmune diseases through education,
  public awareness, research, and patient services.
• AARDA is a national voluntary health
  organization.
• AARDA is an authoritative source of information
  on autoimmunity.
• AARDA is the only comprehensive national agency
  representing the disease category of autoimmune
  disease.

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• AARDA conducts national awareness campaigns,
• supports autoimmune research,
• provides patient educational programs and
  materials,
• organizes scientific meetings, and
• advocates on behalf of autoimmune patients and
  their families.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates
that up to 23.5 million Americans are affected by
autoimmune diseases. However, this number
includes only those 24 diseases for which there
are epidemiological studies. There are more than
100 autoimmune diseases.
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Autoimmunity at a Glance
Autoimmune Disease by Gender
Autoimmune Disease...

• Approximately 100 diseases
• Affects 50 million Americans
• Costs over 120 billion annually
• 250,000 new diagnoses each year
• Major cause of death in women

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History of Autoimmune Diseases

• Many different disciplines involved
• Lack of focus on underlying etiology
• Most research is disease-specific
• Very poor cross talk among different medical
  disciplines

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24 of the Most Common Autoimmune Diseases

• Graves disease
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Thyroiditis/hypothyroidism
• Vitiligo
• Type 1 diabetes
• Pernicious anemia
• Multiple sclerosis
• Glomerulonephritis
• Systemic lupus erythematosus
• Sjögrens syndrome
• Uveitis
• Scleroderma

• Addisons disease
• Autoimmune hemolytic anemia
• Autoimmune hepatitis
• Goodpastures syndrome
• Autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura
• Myasthenia gravis
• Myocarditis
• Pemphigus
• Polymyositis/dermatomyositis
• Primary biliary cirrhosis
• Rheumatic heart disease
• Relapsing polychondritis

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Although, autoimmune diseases are very diverse
anatomically and can affect almost every organ or
system in the body from the eyes and ears to the
heart, liver, and skin, they are all caused by an
autoimmune response to ones own tissue, cells
and organs.
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Autoimmune diseases need to be recognized as a
category, similar to cancer, rather than being
listed under the organ or system of the body
affected by the disease.
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The Impact of Autoimmune Diseases
Eye and Mouth Sjogrens Syndrome Uveitis (eye)
Brain Nervous System Multiple Sclerosis
Thyroid Graves Disease/Hashimotos Thyroiditis
Lungs Autoimmune Pulmonary Fibrosis
Heart Cardiomyopathy Autoimmune Myocarditis
Kidneys Lupus Juvenile Diabetes Glomerulonephriti
s
Skin Pemphigus Scleroderma
Gastrointestinal Crohns Disease Celiac Sprue
Blood Hemolytic Anemia Neutropenia Autoimmune
Thrombocytopenic Purpura Pernicious anemia
Joints Rheumatoid Arthritis
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AARDA identifies areas of research that need to
be expanded include

• Biomarkers for earlier diagnosis and
  individualized treatment
• Increased basic autoimmune research into the
  mechanisms involved in the autoimmune response.
• Increased research into environmental triggers
  for autoimmune diseases

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• Disability Evaluation Under Social Security
• Immune System
• Autoimmune disorders (14.00D).Autoimmune
  disorders are caused by dysfunctional immune
  responses directed against the bodys own
  tissues, resulting in chronic, multisystem
  impairments that differ in clinical
  manifestations, course, and outcome. They are
  sometimes referred to as rheumatic diseases,
  connective tissue disorders, or collagen vascular
  disorders. Some of the features of autoimmune
  disorders in adults differ from the features of
  the same disorders in children.

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Many patients may have more than one autoimmune
disease, even as many as four or five autoimmune
diseases. In some cases, taken together, having
more than one autoimmune disease increases the
severity of the patients condition and could
qualify a patient for compassionate allowance.
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Unfortunately not all of the autoimmune diseases
that cause severe disability are listed under
immune conditions. As a result, some serious and
disabling autoimmune diseases are not listed
under any system or disease category.
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Serious and disabling autoimmune diseases that
are not listed under immune conditions but are
clearly autoimmune and would qualify for
compassionate allowance

• Behçet's disease (central nervous system)
• Chronic inflammatory demylineating
  polyneuropathy (CIDP)
• Antiphospholipid syndrome involving stroke and
  pulmonary
  thrombosis
• Systemic scleroderma with pulmonary
  involvement
• Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis
• Acute necrotizing hemorrhagic
  leukoencephalitis
• Autoimmune aplastic anemia
• Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration
• Wegners ganulomatosis

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Autoimmune diseases known to vary significantly
in ways they present in individuals

• Autoimmune disease can be mild in one patient
  and severe in another patient with the same
  disease, depending on disease involvement and how
  the response of the patient to therapies.
• In some patients their disease is progressive
  while other patients with the same disease will
  have intermittent periods of disease activity
  and remissions.
• In some patients, the disease is fulminating
  and life threatening from onset or from
  significant sudden change in disease course.

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Disabling Manifestations of Autoimmune Disease

• Extreme fatigue
• Pain
• Crippling
• Neurological manifestations
• Impaired overall functioning
• Muscular weakness/atrophy
• Impaired ambulatory ability
• Loss of sight
• Stroke
• Severe kidney damage
• Severe skin involvement
• Pulmonary insufficiency
• Severe liver or bile duct damage

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Conditions that usually would qualify for
compassionate allowance in which it would be the
exception to see improvement because of damage
to vital organs

• Central nervous system lupus
• Severe lupus nephritis
• Progressive multiple sclerosis
• Catastrophic antiphospholipid
  syndrome
• Advanced autoimmune liver
  disease
• Systemic scleroderma
• Severe rheumatoid arthritis 
• Chronic autoimmune eye disease
  with significant loss of vision

• Devic disease
• Severe, non-responsive Crohns disease
• Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration
• Primary bilary cirrhosis
• Wegnes granulomatosis
• Pemphigus
• Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis
• Autoimmune aplastic anemia
• Non-responsive polymyositis
• Central nervous system Behcets disease
• Pulmonary fibrosis

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Thank you